Warrior Creation

GM</abbr>s who want to introduce warriors not included in the Example Warriors section have a few options. First, they could take a pre-existing warrior and change it superficially, either by altering its creature type or element and the elements of its abilities and then changing its name and appearance. They could also take an existing warrior and change its abilities. Whatever the GM decides, it is recommended that they not send the same kind of warrior at the Heroes too many times. This is partially to maintain the sense of danger and discovery for players, and partially because learning about the abilities and statistics of the warriors that Heroes will face on the road is a core part of the experience of Last Odyssey.

Warrior Properties

• The power level of a warrior is a measure of its power relative to its tier. Normal warriors are about as powerful as a Hero, Elite warriors are a match for the entire party, and Antagonists are powerful bosses that are a serious challenge for any party.
• The creature type of a warrior is a single word that best describes the type of living being they are in the context of the setting. There are a few special pieces of equipment, such as weapons with the Slayer feature, that interact with a warrior’s creature type.
• A warrior’s element determines the damage that different elemental attacks do to them.
• A warrior’s tier indirectly determines their combat statistics by setting the number of attribute points available to allocate to determine their statistics.
• Aggression is a measure of how vicious a warrior is in close quarters, and contributes to a warrior’s Physical Attack, Initiative, and Physical Accuracy.
• Toughness is a measure of how much damage a warrior can take, and contributes to a warrior’s Physical Defense, Resistance, and Health.
• Magic is a measure of how adept a warrior is at dealing with magic, and contributes to a warrior’s Magical Attack, Magical Defense, Magical Accuracy, and Mana.
• Cunning is a measure of how clever and evasive a warrior is, and contributes to a warrior’s Evasion, Magical Accuracy, Status Accuracy, and Initiative.

Setting Attributes

When creating a new warrior, the GM must spend a fixed amount of points on each of their attributes that depends on the warrior’s tier and its power level. At tier 1, Normal warriors have 6 points to distribute, Elite warriors have 8, and each Form of an Antagonist has 10. Each additional tier grants 2 more points to Normal warriors, 3 more points to Elite warriors, and 4 more points to Antagonists. The minimum value that a warrior can have in each of their attributes is 0. The maximum value that a Normal warrior can have in a given attribute is 10, the maximum value an Elite can have is 15, and the maximum that an Antagonist can have is 20. In addition to attribute points, the Health, Mana, and Initiative of all warriors are adjusted by a number called the warrior’s tier multiplier. The tier multipliers for a Normal warrior are 5 for their Health and Mana and 1 for their Initiative, Elites have multipliers of 10 for their Health and Mana and 2 for their Initiative, and Antagonists have 20 for their Health and Mana and 2 for their Initiative.

Calculating Statistics

Once attribute points have been allocated, the warrior’s combat statistics are determined by their attributes by the following formulae:

• $\overline{)Health}=\overline{)Toughness}x5+\overline{)Tier}x\overline{)Tier\; Multiplier}$
• $\overline{)Mana}=\overline{)Magic}x5+\overline{)Tier}x\overline{)Tier\; Multiplier}$
• $\overline{)Initiative}=\overline{)Aggression}+\overline{)Cunning}+\overline{)Tier}x\overline{)Tier\; Multiplier}$
• $\overline{)Physical\; Attack}=\overline{)Aggression}x2$
• $\overline{)Magical\; Attack}=\overline{)Magic}x2$
• $\overline{)Physical\; Defense}=\overline{)Toughness}$
• $\overline{)Magical\; Defense}=\overline{)Magic}$
• $\overline{)Evasion}=\overline{)Cunning}$
• $\overline{)Resistance}=\overline{)Toughness}$
• $\overline{)Physical\; Accuracy}=\overline{)Aggression}x2$
• $\overline{)Magical\; Accuracy}=\overline{)Cunning}+\overline{)Magic}$
• $\overline{)Status\; Accuracy}=\overline{)Cunning}x2$

Unlike Heroes, warriors’ maximum HP and Shell are distinct values. The total combined HP plus Shell of a single warrior is equal to its Health, and the ratio of its HP to its Shell is equal to the ratio of its Toughness plus its Aggression to its Magic plus its Cunning. For example, a warrior with an Aggression of 4, a Toughness of 5, a Magic of 3, and a Cunning of 3 would have HP equal to three fifths of its Health and Shell equal to two fifths of its Health. If the value calculated isn’t exact (and it often won’t be) just round the warrior’s Health and Shell to the nearest integer. Once statistics are calculated, the GM can then adjust them if they like. When doing so, they should remember that 1 point of Physical Defense, Magical Defense, Evasion, or Resistance is worth 2 points of Physical Attack, Magical Attack, Physical Accuracy, Magical Accuracy, Initiative, or Status Accuracy, and also worth 5 points of Health or Mana.

Setting Abilities

After setting the combat statistics of a warrior, the GM should then choose its abilities. Normal warriors should get two abilities, and Elite warriors should get four, while every Form of an Antagonist can have as many as appropriate, although 6-10 is a good median range. If the warrior does not have a basic attack, they receive an extra ability, as well as an alternate basic attack that costs 2 AP rather than 1. Examples of warrior abilities can be drawn from the lists of abilities for character roles and archetypes and from the abilities of all other warriors in the Example Warriors section of their tier or below. In the case of character abilities, warriors can only have access to abilities associated with a rank of an archetype or role equal to twice their tier. In addition to active abilities, warriors may also have passive abilities, which are extra effects that activate when certain conditions are met. For example, a warrior might have an ability that makes them immune to water damage, or might gain the Focused status when they lose their Shell. GMs are also encouraged to come up with passives on their own, but may steal them from the examples given in this text.

Behavior and Tactics

After a warrior’s combat statistics and abilities have been determined, they are technically ready to be deployed into a campaign. However, GMs should remember that a warrior is a living entity that makes decisions based on imperatives other than battle tactics. The last thing they do, then, should be to determine the warrior’s behavior. At minimum, GMs should note down what other warriors they will fight alongside, if any, and what pattern of abilities they will use in combat. For example, a warrior that is mindless and aggressive might attack any of their opponents in the front row at random, while a group of warriors using squadron tactics will rotate out who is in the front row based on their remaining HP and Shell. Once this is done, set the warrior’s item table, and it is complete.

Summary

In total, GMs creating a new warrior should complete the following steps:

1. Determine its tier and power level.
2. Determine its creature type.’
3. Determine its element.
4. Determine its attributes.
5. Assign combat statistics based on the values of its attributes, and adjust as needed.
6. Determine its abilities.
7. Determine its item table.
8. Determine its behavior in and out of combat.